On a wet and windy day in the Scottish Borders, a five-man break­away led by Kristian House, the former British national champion, built a lead of more than five minutes. But with almost 100 kilometres remaining, the conditions began to take their toll and the quintet’s lead was cut.

Unsurprisingly, it was Team Sky and Omega Pharma-Quick Step who spent much of the stage controlling the peloton as they looked to shepherd Sir Bradley Wiggins and Cavendish to the finishing line unscathed.

With Wiggins desperate to rescue his season, which has seen him claim just one win – the time trial at the Tour of Poland – the Team Sky leader will have been relieved to have ­finished safely, nine seconds adrift of Viviani in the general classification.

“It was a long old day today and the conditions meant it was pretty hard work as well,” Wiggins’s team-mate Ian Stannard said. “We were riding into a headwind for most of the stage which meant it was a slow average speed, but the weather improved as the day wore on. For us it was all about protecting Bradley, especially on that tight finishing circuit. All in all, I think we did a really good job and it was nice to see Brad pick up a bonus second as well.”

Cavendish, though, will have been less happy after becoming boxed in during the final kilometres.

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Following a brave, though ultimately futile, solo attack from Sojasun’s Anthony Delaplace and later Movistar’s Alex Dowsett, the stage was set for a grandstand sprint finish as Omega Pharma-Quick Step were joined by Garmin-Sharp at the head of the field.

After struggling throughout the season with his lead-out train, Cavendish once again was left frustrated after it was derailed at the last. Sensing Cavendish’s misfortune, Viviani, the Cannondale rider, took full advantage and sprinted to the stage win ahead of Alessandro Petacchi who was, ironically, brought in by Omega Pharma-Quick Step to strengthen their lead-out train, and the Milan-Sanremo winner Gerald Ciolek.

“I am very happy for this win, but I hope to win again in the next few days” Viviani said. “This is my focus for the second part of the season so I hope for more in the closing part of the season.”

"The finish was very hard because after six hours on the bike, the final kilometre was not flat so it was very difficult.

"I take the first position with my teammates with two kilometres to go, I go in the front and after I see what riders go to the sprint.

"I take the wheel of Petacchi and after Ciolek started his sprint, I take the wheel of Ciolek, because 200 metres after six hours is a very long sprint, so I wait one second and then I go.

"When Ciolek passed me I think 'Ok, 200 metres is so very long', so I take his wheel and pass him the last 150 metres."